Concertgebouw Orchestra at the BBC Proms

“The masterly Amsterdam ensemble were at the Proms for two concerts with their Chief Conductor Designate Klaus Mäkelä. In works by Berio, Mahler, Mozart, Prokofiev and Bartók there was dazzling playing and immaculate attention to detail.”

The Guardian, Martin Kettle, 25 August ★★★★☆


“The pure-toned trumpet call that opened Mahler’s Symphony No 5 was only the first of many exemplary solo turns. More important, the internal balance of the orchestra allowed any amount of detail to come to the fore, the mark of a true ensemble of players. Mäkelä gave them time and space. In a symphony that can become a vulgar display of virtuosity, he erred, if anything, in the opposite direction. The most rewarding passages were those where the music looked inward, capturing the quiet grief of the funeral march and the cello section’s introspective questioning in the second movement, played daringly softly.”

Richard Fairman, The Financial Times. 25 August 2025 ★★★★☆


“Mozart might have been a style challenge for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s chief conductor elect, most familiar in late romantic works, but the “Paris” Symphony which began the Sunday afternoon concert was elegant, clear-textured, hypersensitive to a range of dynamics.”

The Arts Desk, David Nice, 25 August 2025

“Finally came Bartók’s rumbustious and nostalgic musical farewell to his native Hungary … Mäkelä made the folk-like cello melody in the tragic middle movement seem like a passionate wordless recitation, a striking idea which gave it an extra edge of intensity. The final movement, a whirling folk-dance, was exemplary in its clarity and thrilling energy.”

The Telegraph, Ivan Hewett, 25 August 2025

PROGRAMMES:

August 24
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 31 Paris
Sergei Prokofiev: Concerto for Violin No. 1
Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Soloist: Janine Jansen

August 23
Luciano Berio: Rendering (after Schubert)
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5